Paradip: The 1999 super cyclone played havoc with the fishery department office that the state government had established near Nehru Bungalow here on the banks of Mahanadi. And, with no subsequent maintenance, the facilities on the premises like staff quarters, ice factory, cold storage, wireless tower etc have turned into heaps of rubbish, putting a glorious past to a virtual end.
It was 1958 when catching fish started at two river mouths of Jatadhara and Mahanadi. At that time, only the local fishing communities were catching fish using the available traditional methods. In 1960, they moved a step towards modernity. They availed loans and mechanised boats were put to use in fishing.
When the estuaries were abuzz with fishing activities, the government set up a fishery department office on a patch of land measuring 32 acres. Quarters for staff, a cold storage, a saltwater training centre, fish enclosures, an ice factory and a wireless tower for communication were subsequently added to the office for development of fishing activities.
All the facilities except the dilapidated office and the saltwater training centre have now become a thing of the past. While some buildings, including the ice factory, have reduced to piles of debris, the staff quarters are looking no better than haunted houses, with cracks on walls, creepers and wild weeds covering every nook and corner of them. Reptiles have laid siege to the area because of abundance of anthills, bushes and wetlands.
The fish enclosures covering an area of 20 acres have given place to mangroves. The girders from the wireless tower have been stolen away. The ice factory and the cold storage are nothing but skeleton structures.
Though the office and the saltwater training centre are running from the dilapidated houses, plasters are coming off walls, putting the staff in danger. A few staff members who are somehow managing the office are staying outside. The two Grade IV employees who are staying inside the campus are taking care of the quarters by themselves.
Taking advantages of negligence on the part of the administration, some outsiders have occupied the vacant quarters and a colony of about 200 hutments has come up nearby.
With the place being devoid of any protection, the possibility of theft of remaining valuable equipment cannot be ruled out. There is a samiti office to manage the fishing jetty on the port campus. Though all the necessary office works starting from boat and trawler registration to insurance and patrolling are being done at the old office of marine fishery department, the fishery department is yet to take steps to repair its own existing infrastructure.
When asked about any possibility of restoration of the infrastructure, fishery officer (Marine) Madhumaya Samal said the higher-ups would take a call in this regard.
However, sources say a proposal has been placed for new buildings in place of the present dilapidated ones.
PNN